


The Implications of Roses

by IreneSpring



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Hatred of Elliot Stabler, Prompt Fic, Roses, Secret Relationship, the rest of the squad is there too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29339931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneSpring/pseuds/IreneSpring
Summary: Olivia gets Alex roses, jeopardizing the secrecy of their relationship and raising questions about disclosure (it's fluffier than it sounds, I just suck at summaries).Prompt: "I've got a secret admirer."
Relationships: Olivia Benson/Alexandra Cabot
Comments: 9
Kudos: 34





	The Implications of Roses

**Author's Note:**

> I did like Donnelly as a character, so I'm happy I get to write her for this prompt. Also I do not apologize for my take on Stabler. He is a bad person and he will never come off well in my fics.

Alex feels like she’s walking on air as she enters her office, and that’s before she sees the roses. No note, but Alex knows who they’re from. Olivia had made an offhand comment about sending her roses at their dinner three days ago. Letting out an excited noise, Alex walks over to the flowers and searches for a note. She finds one, typed out, that reads  _ Good morning, Beautiful.  _ Olivia has style, Alex cannot deny that. 

“Well, well, well, what have we here?” Donnelly. She’s early. Flustered, Alex spins around.

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean? Alexandra, the flowers.”

“I’ve got a secret admirer,” Alex says. “I thought our meeting wasn’t until 9:30.”

“Traffic was good to me,” Donnelly responds with a shrug. “So, you have no idea who these are from?”

“None.”

“You’re not a good liar, Alexandra.”

“Why do you care?”

“I know we don’t always agree, but I do care about you. I like to know what’s going on in your life. I know having a boyfriend can be difficult with this job, especially SVU.”

“If I concede that I do have a girlfriend,” Alex begins, pausing sharply after the word “girlfriend.” “It’s still new. It might not be going anywhere.”

“A dozen red roses doesn’t seem like a ‘I don’t know where it’s going’ message,” Donnelly muses, and Alex is starting to lose her patience. This thing between her and Olivia, it’s supposed to be theirs right now. Without outside interference. Without jokes from colleagues. Something nice for just them. And now Donnelly is ruining it. Alex just wants to enjoy her flowers. She just wants to call Olivia and thank her for being such a great girlfriend. It’s not rocket science. It shouldn’t take a quasi-legal debate about the implications of roses.

“Look, Liz, you know I respect you, and I know you’re my boss, but I don’t see how this is any of your business.”

“It’s my business if those roses are from Detective Benson.” Alex lets out a long sigh. 

“Actually, it’s only your business in that case if Olivia is testifying in any of my cases, which she isn’t.”

“So they are from Olivia?”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“Three months.”

“Three  _ months _ ?”

“We’ve been careful. There’s nothing defense attorneys could use against us.”

“I underestimated your skill at subtlety.”

“Clearly.”

“So you were lying about it not being serious.”

“I don’t know, we haven’t exactly been able to spend a lot of time with each other outside of work.”

“Does Detective Benson do things outside of work at all?”

“Sometimes. With me, at least.” Donnelly smiles at that.

“Good for you. Give Detective Benson my congratulations.” 

“I will, thanks.”

“Alex?”

“Yes?”

“I expect disclosure forms by the end of the month.”

After the meeting, Alex calls Olivia. She answers almost immediately.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Thanks for the flowers.”

“My pleasure," Olivia says warmly. "Did you like them?”

“I did. So much so, in fact, that I’ll probably bring flowers over to you the next time I visit the precinct.”

“But then the squad would know.”

“Well I received a career-prosecutor interrogation from Donnelly, so it seems only fair.” Alex hears Olivia sigh on the other end.

“Donnelly saw them?”

“They’re not exactly camouflaged.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m supposed to tell you ‘congratulations.’”

“I’m sure that’s not all she said.”

“You’re right. She wants disclosure forms by the end of the month.”

“So… what are you thinking?” Olivia asks, and Alex thinks she detects nerves in her voice. Which is ridiculous.

“I’m thinking we give her disclosure forms by the end of the month.”

“Really? You’re good with that?”

“I mean this sneaking around thing is hot, but I didn’t think it was really a long term strategy,” Alex says with a laugh, and she’s relieved when Olivia joins in.

“Okay, so how does Monday work?”

“Monday works great.”

“And Al?”

“Yeah?”

“Bring some roses to the precinct.”

“Roger that.”

“Counselor, who are the roses for?” Fin asks as soon as Alex enters the precinct.

“I think you all know, at this point. Otherwise we need new detectives,” Alex jokes, setting the roses down on Olivia’s desk. She hears John whistle in the background and rolls her eyes.

“How long has this been going on?” Elliot asks.

“Three months.”

“We really are losing our touch,” Fin mutters. 

“Don’t feel too bad, we were only around you all constantly.” 

“I so called it,” John claims, looking smugly at Fin. “It was obvious Liv had a thing for you.”

“It was not,” Elliot objects. “I mean, in my defense, I did think Liv had a boyfriend, but-”

“Nah, I’m with John on this one,” Fin says. “Remember last week when the counselor came by to go over the suspect list? Liv was not looking at the file, if you know what I’m saying.”

“I heard my name,” Liv calls, entering the room with an amused smile. “I assume the cat’s out of the bag?”

“The detectives were just informing me that you were checking out my ass when we went over the suspects in the Kaplan murder,” Alex informs her cooly.

“Oh, well yes, I did that. But you know how I feel about that skirt.”

“Okay, we’ll give you guys a moment alone,” John says, grabbing Fin by the arm and gesturing for Elliot to follow him. Once they’re out of sight, Olivia leans in to kiss Alex.

“Sorry about them,” she says. “Thanks for the flowers, they’re beautiful.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Alex assures her. “I assume you were just in to talk to Cragen?”

“Yep. He’s all good. He even gave me a number of someone he trusts to contact if anyone is, in his words, ‘a bastard’ about ‘my whole bisexuality thing.’” Alex laughs.

“Well, his heart is in the right place. And don’t worry, if anyone is a bastard, I can handle it myself.”

“I’d pay good money to see that.”

“So we’re all good? You’re not worried about anything?”

“Well I’m not looking forward to the subtle questioning I’ll likely get from Elliot about how lesbian sex is different from heterosexual sex or how to tell if one of his kids is bi, but other than that I think so.”

“That’s lovely.”

“He’s a good person, Al. You’d like him if you spent more time with him.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that.”

“Fine. But you have to invite him to things. Birthday parties, holiday parties, housewarming parties…”

“That’s a little presumptuous, don’t you think?”

“Please. Like you don’t have a house-hunting page open on your computer.”

“I’m a lesbian, Liv, it’s what we do.”

“Well, I’m okay with my apartment right now. But I’d like it better if you came over to it tonight?”

“That was terrible.”

“I haven’t heard you say no.”

“I’ll be there. Probably with more flowers.”

“It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> I definitely think Fin would have been the first to notice anything, and then he and Munch would find a way to interpret every single thing Olivia did as a way to impress Alex, much to Olivia's annoyance. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


End file.
